Les Paul Custom build

davros

Pretty happy with the multply binding on the headstock. Decided to stick with this purfling and use superglue instead of acetone.

I used the technique of taping it all down and wicking thin superglue between the plys and the wood. I think I'll be using the same technique on the body as it worked really well. I like that you can hold something in place, wick in some glue and it is almost instantly stuck. It really helped for the open book bit of the headstock.

I pre-bent the 1.5mm white binding on the open book part over the gas hob as I couldn't be bothered to get the heat gun out.

Also drilled and routed out the chambered body using the same template as my red LP build. This piece of mahogany has a really dense section for some reason, that really upset my pillar drill and forstner bit. The black splatter I think might be oil from the drill! It was a reasonable heavy pieceof Khaya, but much lighter now!

davros

Lots of progress on the body this weekend. Flattened both sides of the body and both sides of the top using the router sled. Jointed the top using the router table, glued and flattened again and thicknessed it to 16mm. Then got the top glued to the back and left to dry overnight.

Today, used the router table and carve templates to map the contour on the top and started rounding it with a plane and random orbital sander.

Next up before doing any more carve refinement is using the router sled again to cut the 4 degree neck plane and pickup plane into the top, but that will have to wait for next weekend!

Imgur playing up again but will attempt to add some more pics 

PeteC

Wow - just as brilliant as your last build - its looking great - very fine workmanship ! 

davros

Thanks Pete, here's the pics

PeteC

I have yet to attempt a les paul carve but I think thats going to be the winter project - once i have finished the 2 tekes and the PRS-alike i have on the go atm.  

Too busy making amps this summer and playing the other geetarz ! 

Its looking great @davros , as usual 

davros

The carve is 'drafted', I dont want to finalise it until I have multi-ply bound the body, and I cant do that until I've routed the neck pocket and I can't do that until I've made the neck. So now working on the neck!

I cut the truss rod channel and headstock face angle then bandsawed off all the excess. There must have been some hidden stresses in the wood as the previously flat neck now has a 2mm backbow. The stresses were noted when bandsawing as the saw kerf closed up as i went.

So, I think I'm going to give it a few more days to relax, flatten the neck face with the router sled, deepen the truss rod slot again with a chisel and hopefully that will be the end to it moving. I think i have enough excess meat on the back to avoid having to make a thinner profile neck.

Fun fun fun

PeteC

Always some unexpected challenges along the way!

davros

Frustrating weekend.

I flattened the neck with a belt sander and flat sanding board and deepened the truss rod rout with a 1/4" chisel. I believe it was flat at this point, I'm sure I checked it on my 30mm quartz worktop which is dead flat.

Then I prepped the ebony fretboard with the router sled and glued it onto the neck last night and bound it this morning and scraped it back flush.

Great!

Then I layed it face down on the worktop and it rocks, corner to corner, which I think indicates a twist. Bugger.

I have flattened the fretboard mostly, apart from one corner, you can see the remaining pencil marks on the photo, which is at most 0.25mm below the flat part (measured with a feeler gauge against the worktop). That part would mostly be lost in the radiusing.

I'm going to leave it for a week and see if it moves.

It's the last chance for this neck - before I glue on the headstock face (which I REALLY don't want to mess up) and add 50 quid's worth of block inlays. If it moves again I think I'm going to get another neck blank and start again. I'd like to save the very nice fretboard and truss rod too, so will probably have to learn how to steam off the fretboard.

Any insights and recommendations on movement of neck wood would be most welcome - this is the first time I've had this happen.

davros

A week later, It hadn't moved so I decided to start rough carving the neck. It obviously released a little more tension, adding about 0.5mm more back bow (holding the straight edge at the nut and measuring at the heel end). A turn of the double action truss rod flattens it out again, so although I'm on the brink of ditching this neck, I'm going to keep going a bit further and carve a little more.

I think it will be stable once fully carved, but it is frustrating having it keep moving during the build.

rsvmark

Just want to say I love builds like this. Despite the issues- stick with it chap

davros

Leaving the neck to rest for a while, time to move back to the body. Neck pocket routed with the template from my last LP build - lovely tight fit, full width tenon.

Started routing the binding too, 4.5mm rebate and 2mm deep for the 6 ply purfling and 1.5mm rebate 6mm deep for the binding.

I now need to work out how to rout the raised part in the cutaway. I'm planning to use the same overhead router jig I used for the rest of the binding adding a doughnut to follow the raised part of the top. I'll have to make thar next. I'm thinking of using an elastic bungee attached to the roof joists to balance a lot of the weight of the router and make it float a bit more easily.

PeteC

very nice fit - did you do the angle on the back of the tenon or in the neck pocket ? 

I am just planning my LP build for winter and been looking for Catto plans etc and watching FreddyG's build videos on YouTube. 

where did you source you're Khaya blanks from ? 

davros

I initially made a neck template in a piece of 12mm MDF by sticking scraps of MDF around the neck heel. I used those scraps to cut the template in the 12mm piece. That template is stuck to the neck plane carved in the LP top (not much area to do this), and then used to cut the actual tenon. Gives a very tight fit and now as long as I use the same neck template and tenon template, it works great. It makes the base of the neck pocket parallel to the neck plane so no funky angles in the neck heel needed.

I forgot to take a photo, but will try to remember to mock it up tomorrow and get one.

The khaya and ebony fretboard are from Guitars and Woods. Good prices and really nice quality, until this particular neck blank which was very nicely prepped but moved on cutting. I've also had nice Khaya bodies from David Dyke, my 337 build was from there.

I'm using the 'gold standard' plans from MyLesPaul forum. The neck is adapted from a DC junior plan I previously used, also from MyLesPaul. I got my local print shop to print them full size and made MDF templates from them.

davros

Next the bit I haven't been looking forward to - routing the binding channels in the cutaway.

I made a couple of mods to my overhead router jig - added a bungee attached to the ceiling to take most of the weight of the router. This is so that the whole jig could more easily move up and down to follow the top curve. This worked amazingly well, virtually no force required to lift up the router.

Next was making an MDF doughnut to fit around the router bit and follow the top curve. I was very nervous using it for the first time, but it worked fantastically. Just a tiny chunk missing at the end of the pass where there was no top left to run along. This will get a solid finish, so not worried about that at all.

I'm delighted with the result, after some squeaky bum moments.

PeteC

Great work @Davros.   That jig is on my list 

i have the Gold Standard plans from MLP.  Did you find accurate routing depth dinensions anywhere for the cavities ? 

Those binding channels look excellent btw 

davros

Thanks Pete. I haven't attempted to make the cavities vintage correct, pickup depths I think are easy to find or measurable from the plans. My body is fully chambered, so no control cavity to rout.

davros

One more update for this weekend. I've glued on the binding - was tricky with the 7 layers! I taped all the layers on dry and wicked thin superglue in to hold it all together. Made an awful mess, but once it is scraped down it should look good. The layers are all tight, including around the horn and cutaway. Used a heat gun to mould it around the horn.

Scraping down the binding is always good fun so looking forward to that!

PeteC

bloody lovely 

WezV

nice.   i struggle to do that well round the horn and cutaway, and I've done it about 5 times now   

davros

I think there are a couple of gaps that might get revealed when I scrape the cutaway, between the purfling and binding, but since the purfling doesn't melt in acetone, a bit of binding goop should deal with that nicely.